This weekend, The Garden’s Leadership Team got away for our second annual retreat.
I’m still finding words for all Father did over the weekend. He told me specific things He was going to do in each heart and how He was going to move us as a team deeper into His. Just like always, He did exactly what I felt Him say He would do. I believe our team walked away marked by the love of God in a way we never have before.
These women have a massive hunger for more of God and incredible depth to their intimacy with Him. They carry an incredible authority in the Kingdom because of the hard places they’ve fought through. I’m so honored to have them leading women alongside me deeper into the Father’s heart.
It really is in the hardest moments of our story where we have a choice to make. We all come to a crossroads and can choose to push in deeper into the heart of the Father, or run away. These women aren’t afraid of hard. They aren’t afraid to fight not only to hold onto Hope for themselves, but to fight for hope for others.
They’ve chosen to press in. There’s so much beauty found when we press into the heart of the Father. And because they refuse to quit and are relentless in their pursuit of Him, we continue to see miracles. Not only miracles in their hearts, but miracles in their bodies too.
The babe in this photo is the rainbow after a really dark storm. Her brave mama delivered her twin brother and sister right into the arms of Jesus two years ago. Every time we glanced at sweet Saylor sleeping over the weekend, we were reminded of the beauty that rises up from the ashes in our stories, when we let God write them.
We did a lot of resting. We laughed a lot. We went on a little hike. We talked about our dreams, our hearts, our emotions, our bodies, our weaknesses, our strengths, the women we serve, and everything in between. We drank a lot of coffee and wine. We ate healthy food but had a candy staff and several brownies. Yeah, we laughed a lot, but we cried a lot too.
And Papa God met us in the middle of every beautiful second.
It’s such an honor. An absolute honor to serve alongside these women.
A few months ago I was invited to be on Joy and Infertility’s Podcast. It’s such an honor to be asked to share our story, but more than anything it’s such an honor talking about my Father. I’ll do it every chance I get, for the rest of my life. He is the lover of my soul, and loving Him is the reason I live.
If you’re new around here, and you wonder “what in the world is this girl’s story?” I started at the beginning of our story and shared our entire journey. Or maybe you’re wondering, “What is The Garden?” I talk a lot about The Garden and the miracles we’ve seen within our ministry. I also share what it looks like for us to continue to believe God for a miracle pregnancy.
It’s my prayer that these words spur your heart on to a deeper hunger of His presence, friends. Thank you for always following along. The way you keep showing up to this space means so much to me.
You can take a listen here to the Joy and Infertility Podcast.